KERES, PAUL

born Jan. 7, 1916, Narva, Estonia, Russian Empire died June 5, 1975, Helsinki, Fin. Estonian chess grandmaster, three times chess champion of the U.S.S.R., three times European champion, and the winner of four world chess Olympiads. Keres began to learn chess at the age of 4 by watching his father, and he played chess publicly at 13. While he was still in his teens, Keres won prizes in tournaments and won the Estonian championship in 1934. Although he studied mathematics and pursued journalism, he eventually turned to a full career in chess. He won the U.S.S.R. championships in 1947, 1950, and 1951 and entered several major international tournaments, including the 10th through the 15th Chess Olympiads (195262). Although he never captured the world championship, Keres won more than a score of international tournaments after World War II, defeating among others Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Petrosyan, and Boris Spassky, all of whom were world champions. He wrote The Theory of Chess Openings: Open Openings, parts 12 (194952), with a third part entitled French Defense (1958); his last book was Practical Chess Endings (1974).